Green Bay Packers defeat Philadelphia Eagles, 27-20

Philadelphia — "I hate to be redundant," Mike McCarthy was saying as he again found himself searching for the right word to summarize what had just happened Sunday in the first of what could be a whole lot of football games for the Green Bay Packers.

That's OK, coach. Under the circumstances, your recurring use of "tough" to characterize the visiting team's approach pretty much captured the spirit of the thing.

Philadelphia — Whatever the Green Bay Packers are to become in 2010, they certainly weren't the dominant team they were on opening day in 1996, or the last time they won the Super Bowl.

Those Packers went to Tampa forced to wear their dark jerseys in tropical heat and mangled Tony Dungy's Buccaneers, 34-3, out-gaining them, 406-176, in an awe-inspiring performance that was often repeated in a 16-3 campaign.

Philadelphia — There's no telling whether the Green Bay Packers would have boarded their charter flight home with a 1-0 record had Michael Vick been the Philadelphia Eagles' quarterback from the very start Sunday, but given the condition of the defense after the game, an argument could be made against it.

The Packers went from being in almost complete control of the Kevin Kolb-directed offense to gasping for breath and hanging on for dear life in a 27-20 season-opening ...